Ellie Greenwood Takes North America by Storm

The Scot from British Columbia is tearing up the Canadian ultra scene

Every runner knows someone who they think trains harder and races more than they do. It's in our nature never to think we are doing enough or as much as our fellow runners. -- Ellie Greenwood.

While it's true that most runners believe others train harder, is the statement above believable when it comes from a smiley, freckled Scot who's modest to a fault? Before answering that, note that the diminutive 31-year-old vegetarian also smashes course records in ultradistance races with names like the "Canadian Death Race" and "Knee Knacker." Ellie Greenwood's humility is accentuated by the fact that her 2010 running season amounts to a one-woman show of stellar performances in distances from half marathons to 125K, including two victories in major Canadian road marathons (2:52 in Calgary and 2:49 in Edmonton). Her win at the Death Race was simply outstanding: She was second overall and blew the women's course record away by almost an hour, even dipping below the previous men's record.

Greenwood loves to run and, while she's motivated by the fun of being out on the trails or road, when she pins a number on, she means business. "Having a race schedule helps me stay driven, as I'm never going to show up at a start line and just do it for the fun of it," she says. "That's just not me! Having now won some races and set some course records, that is a motivation to carry on and see what more I can do; after all, if I don't do it now I'm only losing time."

Born in Dundee, Scotland, Greenwood was eight when her family moved to the flat farmland of Norfolk, England. After graduating from university in 2001, Greenwood decided to work in Canada for a UK ski package vacation operator and has remained in Canada since. "I love the big outdoors and the more relaxed lifestyle here," she says. After moving to Canada, Greenwood participated in a running clinic and took to the sport immediately.

Greenwood will be representing the UK at the 100K world championship in November after winning her first attempt at the distance in May at the Elk-Beaver 100K on Vancouver Island, then her longest race to date. After training solo all winter, she set a course record of 7:36 to make the British team.

While the number of races Greenwood has won is phenomenal, it's her rapid rise to dominance and the margin of her victories that has people like Gary Robbins saying that she may well be the next Ann Transon. "With Ellie's young age, incredible drive and apparently limitless potential, we might just be referring to Ellie in those same sentences [with Ann Trason] in the not-so-distant future," Robbins says.

In 2011 Greenwood plans to hit some U.S. races, which she realizes are more competitive than the ones she's raced in Canada. She says she's anxious to test herself "against some great runners south of the border." She's seriously considering her first 100-miler and definitely more 50-milers but won't change much in the way she trains or races. "I always just go and race my own race," she says. "That's all I believe you can do."